De Blasio backers to rally for more affordable housing

Real Affordability for All, a coalition of 50 tenants groups and Mayor Bill de Blasio supporters, intends to rally outside City Hall today in an effort to push for more affordable housing.

The report that will be distributed at the rally shows a substantial gap in the number of units targeting families of four that generate less than $41,000 a year in income. It claims that former Mayor Bloomberg’s policies failed to aid 700,000 residents in households in that lower income bracket. De Blasio’s goal is to build or preserve 200,000 units of low-cost housing under a proposal due in less than two months.

“One of the things that we’ve been pushing the administration on is that this isn’t a drive toward a number, this is a drive toward affordability,” Jonathan Westin of New York Communities for Change told the Wall Street Journal. [WSJ] — Mark Maurer

Where are those 700k families who are making less living at this time?

WannaBeLandlord

Is this Caracas? Staging a rally to support a housing policy that already is in play.

Really??

Instead of going and protesting, why not go out a get a job? Families of 4 making under 41K living in NYC are GENERALLY just leeches who milk the system. New York should pushing for housing for the families that actually try to add to society. The ones who go out and take minimum wage salaries. Not the ones who sit on their @$$ all day complaining… Its not their fault, its the our and the government’s fault because we allow this to happen.

danybx

You sound ridiculous. I make 4100 and am a family of 4.i pay taxes like every one else. I nake to much for any services in nyc so what are u talking about? You obviously dont know either. Bottom line its too expensive to like in nyc …and i work for the city…

Daniel

I wish that it would be called subsidized housing, as although it is more affordable to one group, apartments end up being less affordable for the balance of renters and buyers…

David Brown

Firstly the only way to reduce housing costs in a physically limited area is to rise height and density. Every step by politicians to restrict height, landmark, etc. ultimately increases housing costs. They can be for one or the other but they can’t be for both.

Secondly, politics doesn’t repeal the ;laws of physics. Most of the affordable or rent controlled buildings in NYC are aging and require major mid-life restoration to be available for the future. Gentrification is not a social issue, it is simply the result of aging buildings requiring substantive mid-life re-investment due to normal deterioration. However, economically, it means that lower cost apartments in declining buildings with limited remaining life become higher cost apartments in renovated buildings with greatly extended life.

Thirdly, if you want to make high cost contstruction affordable someone has to subsidize it. The rest of America isn’t going to because they are all paying market rate and laugh at the idea of people making $100K + needing to be subsidized. NYS and NYC are overspent already, hello public sector unions, and don’t have additional money. Extorting 10% quotas on new builds still works but doesn’t generate nearly enough units (not to mention making it impossible for the middle class to afford their own housing because the price now includes sudisizing someone elses as well). Tax the rich still has some political potentcy but ignores the fact that companies and people are leaving NYS in droves; higher rates on a declining base results in stagnant tax revenues. Not to mention that the rich are also supposed to pay for everything else (i.e. Pre-K, Obamacare) – certainly implies that affordable housing isn’t the only mouth for the rich to feed.

saywha?

if you are making less than $41,000 annually and are a family of 4 then new york city really isn’t the place for you. Maybe Far Rockaway, the Bronx and Sheepshead Bay are more ideal for these low incomes, but as development continues many people will eventually be priced out if they are not dwelling in a rent stabilized home.